Elsewhere: Video, Disco & Does Macy`s Tell Bloomie`s?

June 16, 1986|By Brian J. O`Connor and David Altaner, Business Writers

It wasn`t a chicken in every pot, but it looked like there might be a videocassette recorder in every living room on Aug. 20, 1984, when Weekly Business examined the ``Videocassette craze.``

But even though the video revolution looked like it was here to stay, cassette retailers and renters said too many people were getting into the water -- from grocery stores to the Broward County Library. Many expected to see a shakeout in the retail and rental end.

``The infamous shakeout shook, but nothing fell,`` said Pat Gorlich, creative director of the Video Software Dealers Association in Cherry Hill, N.J. ``For every store that falls out, there`s one that replaces it. The replacement ratio is keeping the industry on the growth curve.``

What`s also kept the industry growing is a steady stream of new VCRs -- about 13 million are expected to be sold this year alone, said Julie Quatro, spokeswoman for the Electronic Industries Association in Washington, D.C.

That number is more than all the VCRs sold in this country between 1975 and the date of our cover story. Next year, the industry projects sales of 14 million new machines, Quatro said.

As Gail Giacobbe of Movieland in Lauderhill notes, ``The competition is there, but it`s been there for five years. There`s a lot of stores around me, but there`s a lot more recorders being sold every day.``

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On another entertainment note, Weekly Business toured the taverns of Broward and Palm Beach counties on New Year`s Eve 1984 in ``Profits on tap at clubs,`` taking a look at the highly competitive bar business and the rise in sales at bars and restaurants in South Florida.

As noted in the article, big national chains of saloons and clubs had been attracted by the glitter of the Gold Coast. But that was before the hike in the drinking age and liability insurance premiums and the backlash against drinking.

Nevertheless, the national and local backlash against alcohol hasn`t slowed down such nationwide food and beverage firms as TGI Fridays and the S&A Corp., both of Dallas.

TGI Fridays has gone from seven South Florida nightspots to 10, including two Dalts, 1940s-style bar and grill operations, out of 124 nationwide, said Steve King, director of financial administration and planning. And S&A has gone from 10 to 14 Gold Coast operations out of its 197 Bennigans and Steak and Ale ``casual dining`` establishments across the country.

According to S&A`s Jodie Corley Hughes, director of public relations, the drinking age hike has not affected Bennigans, since the chain caters to an over-21 crowd. As for the move to less alcohol consumption, ``We had seen this coming long before it hit and repsonded with a renewed emphasis on quality food, but still in a fun environment.`` That meant adding 50 items to the Bennigans menu.

Meanwhile, the chain`s sales mix dropped from 43 percent liquor to 36 percent. But, says Hughes, ``We have really more than made up for our loss in liquor volume with the food sales.``

On the nightclub scene, Houston-based McFaddin Ventures Inc. and Atlanta-based Hospitality Associates are also forging ahead. The duo, which operates the Confetti and Reunion nightclubs, has opened a number of other Confettis across the country, including a Confetti on the beach in Daytona, said Jim Leslie, Hospitality Associates` vice president of operations.

At the same time, McFaddin Ventures, a public company that Leslie says is one of the biggest bar operators in the country, has opened up franchised Studebaker`s clubs in both Fort Lauderdale and Clearwater.

Meanwhile, Reg Moreau, a co-owner of Shooters in Fort Lauderdale and in Boynton Beach, Bootleggers and City Limits, notes that the increase in insurance rates hasn`t stopped Shooters from going ahead with construction on a Shooters in North Miami.

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Macy`s and Gimbels were once the quintessential department store rivals. But since Gimbels has faltered, it has been Macy`s vs. Bloomingdale`s in New York City.

That rivalry, which was extended to Dade County two years ago, is now coming to southern Palm Beach County, as was noted in a Weekly Business article of March 24, 1986, ``Department store wars -- New Yorkers charging into South Florida.``

In October, a Bloomingdale`s store is scheduled to join Saks Fifth Avenue and Lord & Taylor in the Town Center mall in Boca Raton. Macy`s says it plans to build in the Boynton Beach Mall, although it hasn`t set a date yet.

There also could be another Bloomingdale`s vs. Macy`s confrontation in northern Palm Beach County as well. Macy`s says it is planning to build in the Gardens Mall, a 1.2 million-square-foot mall which is scheduled to open in fall 1988 in Palm Beach Gardens. Bloomingdale`s has been rumored to be another possible tenant, although the mall`s developer, Southfield, Mich.,-based Forbes-Cohen Properties Inc., wouldn`t comment.

Bloomingdale`s spokesman David Ender said Bloomingdale`s is looking at sites in northern Palm Beach County, but not yet made any decisions.

Macy`s spokeswoman Judy Cohn said that in Broward County, the retail chain is planning to build a store in the Fashion Mall in Plantation. That mall-hotel-office center is scheduled to be completed in fall of 1988. Ender said Bloomingdale`s has no plans to build in Broward County.